Victoria Sponge

Take advantage of the fresh fruit available at the moment to cover this beautiful sponge. This is a great recipe to try if you’re new to baking to test your skills, and if things go a little awry simply cover with cream! Serves 8-10 people.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas 4. Grease and line the bases of 2 round 20cm sandwich tins.

Cube up the butter, then cream together with the sugar in a large mixing bowl until pale and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla extract.

Beat the eggs, and then gradually mix into the creamed butter and sugar. Sift, then fold in the flour, baking powder and a pinch of sea salt with a large metal spoon until just incorporated (don’t over mix).

Stir in 1 splash of milk to loosen the batter, and then evenly divide it between the 2 cake tins.

Bake the cakes in the oven for 22 to 25 minutes, or until golden and cooked through. To test, insert a skewer into the middle of a cake; it’s ready when the skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes, and then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Once completely cool, pour the cream into a large bowl, and whisk until you have soft peaks.

Sift in icing sugar and gently fold through. Place one of the cakes on your chosen plate or cake stand and spread over the cream, but not right to the edges or it will spill when the top cake is added

Hull and roughly slice the strawberries, then scatter on top of the cake. Dust with icing sugar and decorate with extra strawberries, if you like.

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